Green Spiced Smoothie

Since the beginning of the new year I have been into making green smoothies for breakfast. It's the perfect breakfast option for me because it is packed full of nutrients and I can take it to-go! This is my newest creation that I am actually currently enjoying as I type this.

If you don't have a high powered blender (I was lucky enough to get a Vitamix recently and LOVE it), I would suggest replacing the kale with spinach. The kale is much more fibrous and harder to break down- which may result in the kale not completely blending in your smoothie. Or maybe that doesn't bother you- in that case, go for it!

Green Spiced Smoothie
Serves 2
(Print Recipe)

Ingredients
2 cups kale, stems removed (if you use spinach, no need to remove stems)
1 cup almond milk
3/4 cup filtered water, or additional almond milk if you prefer
2 sliced and frozen bananas
1 thin slice fresh ginger (I throw it in the blender un-peeled. You could also grate it first, enough to equal about 1/2 teaspoon, or more if you like it with a kick!)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 pinches each of ground cardamom, cloves, and nutmeg
dash freshly ground pepper

6 ice cubes

Put everything in the blender and blend until smooth.

It's just like a chai flavored smoothie, but green! Try it, and adjust the spices to your taste.

Here are a few bird pictures my husband recently took of birds in our backyard. At any given time, if we look outside, there are birds on our fence, feeder, tree, and grass. All just hanging out or eating.

Three birds crammed onto one feeder.

Even a woodpecker!

We haven't had any snow yet this year. I always love the contrast of the birds against freshly fallen snow. Oh well, spring is on it's way, and I'm not complaining!

Mango Pineapple Smoothie

Well, I have officially been a blogger for one month now! I seem to enjoy it just as much as day one, if not more. I love taking pictures and this gives me even more of an excuse... reason, to take pictures of everything. I love the extra practice it is giving me too! Thank you for reading my blog- it gives me even more motivation to take pictures that can be turned into a blog post later!

Here is today's new venture. I finally tried making a different kind of smoothie, and I must say, it turned out delightful! It reminds me of being on a tropical island.
My mango pineapple smoothie.

It was simple and refreshing!

Ingredients:

3/4 sliced frozen banana

1/2 cup frozen mango cubes

1/2 cup frozen pineapple cubes

1 and 1/4 cup almond milk

1 scoop stevia (optional)

Directions:

Blend until smooth. 

This smoothie is worthy of an umbrella straw (and some rum, if you so desire!)

I also took a few pictures of our blossoming "weeds". We don't know exactly what they are (we haven't really looked into it either), but they grow super fast and are impossible to get rid of, so we can only assume they are some type of weed. For a few weeks during the summer, they actually have pretty looking blossoms on them.

They are pretty now, right? I can see flowers in these weeds at least a few weeks out of the year.

On another note, I'd like to share something small that brought a smile to my face yesterday. I was browsing through one of my favorite photography blogs, Divas and Dreams, looking at some of her older posts and tips. As I was scrolling through one of her "photo assignments" from a few weeks ago, I suddenly recognized a picture she had posted on her blissful picnic assignment- it was mine! I had totally forgotten I even submitted a photo and only had submitted it for fun... and to practice using a flicker account. (In fact, when I first saw it, I thought to myself, how in the world did she get my photo?!) There were a lot of professional, beautiful picnic pictures submitted, so I never even thought about checking back on it.

It is funny how such a small thing put a bright spot my day... there was no prize, it wasn't a contest, it was just a place to share our interpretations of a blissful picnic. How nice of her to select an amateur photo to post on her blog, along with other professional ones, as her pics of the week. If you'd like to see the post it can be found here (it has my name under it mariah.moore1). I really like the second one down, with the dogs- of course! The last one with the picnic table looks like the perfect picnic spot to me!

Here's to one month of blissful blogging down, many more to go! Cheers to that, with a RUM mango pineapple smoothie sounds delicious right now!

Menus for People, Menus for Dogs

Happy Sunday! Check out these beautiful flowers Nate brought home.

This morning I planned our menu for the week from the comfort of my couch. Lilly was sitting with me, when I had to get up to get another cookbook. I came back to this.

The cutest little menu planner I have ever seen.

Lilly's menu plan is oats and veggies mixed with her Taste of the Wild dog food. Every day. For breakfast and dinner. She can't get enough of this stuff! I swear she has had a new zest for life ever since we started mixing the Sojos with her dog food. She never used to eat her food right away when we would feed her... and when she did eat, she would pick at it and eat slowly. She also always used to sleep in all the time but now she wants to get up early so she can eat her beloved breakfast blend. She seems to have more energy too. Sometimes I wish she'd still sleep in though :) Call me a crazy dog person, but I'm happy that she enjoys eating so much now. She should enjoy it, right?

This is the menu I came up with for Nate and I this week. I am hoping to take pictures of Monday's recipe and share it on here soon. We stumbled upon this recipe last week and loved it. It is delicious and actually healthier than it sounds- no cream involved!

Yesterday, I went to Crate and Barrel to find a small kitchen trinket, because I had ten dollars left on a gift card from there. Instead, I came home with this.

A smoothie maker! It was too perfect AND too good of a deal to pass up. It was on sale and also came with a twenty dollar rebate. I love it because it also came with 4 (BPA FREE) travel cups that you can use to blend the smoothie in too! No transferring the smoothie from the blender to the cup... which means fewer dishes to wash. We desperately need fewer dishes to wash, especially with all the cooking we do. Nate and I shared one this morning because we didn't have enough almond milk to make two.

I also saw a yummy looking smoothie recipe book there, that I might have to find on Amazon and order. I think I need to expand my horizons with smoothie making... I pretty much stick to the same recipe all the time. I think I'm in a smoothie rut. But it isn't a bad rut to be in. Things could be worse.

One of my favorite things about summer...

This is the sweetest, juiciest watermelon I have had so far this season. Thanks to our neighbors for buying a watermelon that was too big for them to finish- they gave us half of it! I cubed it and will be eating it as snacks and desserts for as long as it lasts. 

Now, I know I said this wasn't going to be a hummingbird blog. I lied. I have to share this picture. If you are sick of seeing hummingbirds on here, stop reading now. But come back tomorrow! This hummingbird madness can't go on forever.

Remember my complaints about bad lighting for my first hummingbird pictures I posted? Here is an example. Good lighting (and the right camera setting) makes all the difference in the world!

Maybe the next blog will be hummingbird free. Don't hold your breath though.

Hummingbirds, Smoothies, and Gardens

So I have been wanting to post a new blog since yesterday, but if you can believe it, Blogger was DOWN! The read only version was the only thing available. Anyway, I was excited to see that it is back up now so I can post again.

Last night around 8:15 I decided to take a few pictures. (There was barely enough light to photograph anything... and not enough light to have any photo considered high quality. Even with my limited photography skills/knowledge I know I am not a fan of flash photography... at least not my flash photography, so I refuse to ever use my flash.) That turned into a long side note. Anyway, last night I was taking pictures of Nate's potted garden that he finally put up on the table he built.

I can't wait to have fresh veggies from our tiny garden this summer. Now a few plant memories.

How they have grown! I love this last one, with one plant leaning toward the other. I think they are companions.

After I finished taking garden photos, I decided to take a picture of our lonely hummingbird feeder, with not a single hummingbird to be found. Before I could even snap the first photo, look what appeared!

Things that were running through my mind: I love hummingbirds! How cool that it just appeared- perfect timing. Oh, how I wish I had good lighting so these pictures would come out clear! I love hummingbirds. Look how cute he (or she... I don't know how to tell, does anyone else know?) is!

I hope one of these days to get some better pictures. If I do, I will be sure to share them! They are such feisty little creatures and they have always intrigued me.

Now for my favorite smoothie recipe, just because it seems to go along well with hummingbirds and gardens. And I'm drinking one right now as I type this.

This is a simple strawberry blueberry smoothie.

You need basic ingredients:

1 frozen banana (cut it into pieces before you freeze it, for easier blending)

1 cup frozen strawberries

1/4 cup frozen blueberries

1 and 1/4 cup almond milk

Optional: 1 scoop of stevia (I love adding a dash of all natural, guilt free sweetness, whenever possible)

Blend until smooth and savor every moment of this fruity bliss.

This is perfect for a hot summer day! Sometimes I have it for breakfast, sometimes dessert, and sometimes as a snack. I might be a little obsessed with it. It would work with any type of frozen berries you desire- I think the frozen banana is key though. It really adds the right consistency to the smoothie. (Note: This makes a very large smoothie... definitely big enough to share with a friend, if you can part with half of it).

Enough blogging for now. I'm going to finish my smoothie, try to peel myself away from hummingbird watch, and go do something fun. It is Friday night after all.